In the essay, Depp’s longtime friend Stanhope wrote that Heard threatened “to leave [Depp], threatening to lie about him publicly in any and every possible duplicitous way if he didn’t agree to her terms. Blackmail is what I would imagine other people might put it, including the manner in which he is now being vilified.”

Heard’s subsequent lawsuit called Stanhope’s claims “completely false and defamatory” and went on to allege of her ex, “Depp and his representatives further ‘went on the offensive’ during the publicity tour repeatedly making false public allegations about Heard to the press, accusing her of being manipulative, a blackmailer and blaming her for the breakup of the marriage – as if Depp’s alcoholism, drug addiction and campaign of violence against his wife played no part.”